Egged Bus Cooperative
Encyclopedia
Egged Israel Transport Cooperative Society Ltd , a cooperative
owned by its members is the largest transit bus
company in Israel
. It provides about 55 % of public transport services throughout the country, employs 6,227 workers and has 2,861 buses (including 57 bulletproof buses) for more than 928 service routes and 3,103 alternative routes all over Israel and the Israeli occupied territories. Egged buses make 25,267 trips every day, transporting about a million passengers over 720,073 km of roads. Egged's bus routes reach most settlements, kibbutz
im, moshav
im and cities in Israel, as well as in the West Bank, and the company also runs local bus networks in most Israeli cities and towns.
i poet
Chaim Nachman Bialik.
During the wars of 1956
, 1967
and 1973
, Egged buses and drivers helped to reinforce the logistics system of the IDF
and drove soldiers and food to the battlefields.
In late 2002, Egged sued the Palestinian Authority and its Chairman Yassir Arafat for compensation of damages and loss of income due to terrorist attacks and suicide bombings on buses during the second intifada, claiming that the attacks had deterred passengers from taking buses. On February 3, 2003, the Tel Aviv District Court ruled that Palestinian Authority Chairman Arafat has to pay Egged NIS 52 million in damages for the loss of one year's income and NIS 100,000 in court expenses.
Despite deregulation
attempts by Benjamin Netanyahu
, Egged is still Israel's largest bus company, is subsidized by the government, and still controls most of the inter-city bus lines in Israel. Netanyahu's attempts were cut short by a bus strike that brought the country to a halt, and Egged's workers and directors don't hesitate to declare that any further attempts to undermine the company's monopoly will be met with similar measures. However, in recent years, many bus lines have begun to be operated by smaller bus companies such as Dan
, Kavim
, Superbus, Connex
and others. In 2005, Egged and the Israeli Government reached an agreement under which by the year 2015 subsidization will be reduced to specific sectors, the disabled, soldiers and students, and for certain equipment.
, Volvo
, DAF
and MAN, including bulletproof
versions used mostly for travel in the West Bank. Historically, the company also extensively used buses by Leyland
, Neoplan
, Jonckheere
, International
, Fiat
and more.
n Trans-Triumph bus company, which runs service to cities such as Varna
and Sofia
, as well as airport and tour bus
es for approximately 4 million Euro. Egged, through its affiliated company, is responsible for the operation of half the public transportation in the city of Varna, the second largest city in Bulgaria with about half-a-million residents. Egged also formed a joint venture company with Rousse municipality called EGGED ROUSSE JSC which operates the public transport in the town of Rousse
.
Egged operates some 1,400 buses in Poland, where it owns the Polish bus company Mobilis it acquired for 4 million Euro in 2006. The company operates some metropolitan bus routes, including exclusive franchises in Warsaw
, Kraków
and Bydgoszcz. The BDS movement
has launched a Polish campaign against Egged, claiming that the company “undermines working conditions in Poland and is involved in maintaining a system of settlements [in the Israeli occupied territories] that violate international law”.
Egged Bus Services have also got an eight-year contract with an option for an additional two years worth about 500 million Euro for public transport in the region Waterland
in the Netherlands
starting December 2011. The contract drew opposition from local Dutch activist groups who accuse Egged of supporting Israel’s settlements policy in the West Bank
, and consider the company's winning the tender as indirect Dutch support for Israel’s settlements policy, according to reports by Radio Netherlands Worldwide. Egged’s Dutch subsidiary denies being involved in politics.
lines, commonly called “mehadrin” buses, mainly running in and/or between major Haredi
population centers. In these sex segregated buses women are expected to sit in the back of the bus and wear so called “modest dress”. The “mehadrin” lines were criticized after a woman, Miriam Shear
, was assaulted for refusing to give up her seat to a male passenger and move to the back of the bus.
In 2011, after a suit filed by a number of women including Shear and novelist Naomi Ragen
, the Israeli High Court ruled that the system as it was implemented was discriminatory. The court, accepting the recommendations of a committee set up to investigate the “mehadrin” buses, ordered that signs designating buses as segregated (even voluntarily) were to be removed and new signs to be put up informing passengers that they had the right to sit wherever they wanted, and stressed that neither passengers nor the driver could pressure anyone into complying with a segregated seating arrangement. Egged, suspected of allegedly violating the Supreme Court ruling, stresses that there is no “mehadrin” concept and that the company “operates only in line with Supreme Court instructions and allows every passenger to select his seat without gender discrimination.”
Cooperative
A cooperative is a business organization owned and operated by a group of individuals for their mutual benefit...
owned by its members is the largest transit bus
Bus
A bus is a road vehicle designed to carry passengers. Buses can have a capacity as high as 300 passengers. The most common type of bus is the single-decker bus, with larger loads carried by double-decker buses and articulated buses, and smaller loads carried by midibuses and minibuses; coaches are...
company in Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
. It provides about 55 % of public transport services throughout the country, employs 6,227 workers and has 2,861 buses (including 57 bulletproof buses) for more than 928 service routes and 3,103 alternative routes all over Israel and the Israeli occupied territories. Egged buses make 25,267 trips every day, transporting about a million passengers over 720,073 km of roads. Egged's bus routes reach most settlements, kibbutz
Kibbutz
A kibbutz is a collective community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. Today, farming has been partly supplanted by other economic branches, including industrial plants and high-tech enterprises. Kibbutzim began as utopian communities, a combination of socialism and Zionism...
im, moshav
Moshav
Moshav is a type of Israeli town or settlement, in particular a type of cooperative agricultural community of individual farms pioneered by the Labour Zionists during the second aliyah...
im and cities in Israel, as well as in the West Bank, and the company also runs local bus networks in most Israeli cities and towns.
History
Egged was created in 1933 through a merger of four smaller intercity bus cooperatives in and around Tel Aviv. In 1942 it was joined with the bus company United Sharon. In 1951, Egged merged with the northern Shahar bus company and the southern Drom Yehuda bus company, creating a cross-country public transportation network. In 1961 Egged merged with the Hamekasher bus company of Jerusalem. The name Egged (lit. Union) was given to the cooperative by the IsraelIsrael
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
i poet
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
Chaim Nachman Bialik.
During the wars of 1956
Suez Crisis
The Suez Crisis, also referred to as the Tripartite Aggression, Suez War was an offensive war fought by France, the United Kingdom, and Israel against Egypt beginning on 29 October 1956. Less than a day after Israel invaded Egypt, Britain and France issued a joint ultimatum to Egypt and Israel,...
, 1967
Six-Day War
The Six-Day War , also known as the June War, 1967 Arab-Israeli War, or Third Arab-Israeli War, was fought between June 5 and 10, 1967, by Israel and the neighboring states of Egypt , Jordan, and Syria...
and 1973
Yom Kippur War
The Yom Kippur War, Ramadan War or October War , also known as the 1973 Arab-Israeli War and the Fourth Arab-Israeli War, was fought from October 6 to 25, 1973, between Israel and a coalition of Arab states led by Egypt and Syria...
, Egged buses and drivers helped to reinforce the logistics system of the IDF
Israel Defense Forces
The Israel Defense Forces , commonly known in Israel by the Hebrew acronym Tzahal , are the military forces of the State of Israel. They consist of the ground forces, air force and navy. It is the sole military wing of the Israeli security forces, and has no civilian jurisdiction within Israel...
and drove soldiers and food to the battlefields.
In late 2002, Egged sued the Palestinian Authority and its Chairman Yassir Arafat for compensation of damages and loss of income due to terrorist attacks and suicide bombings on buses during the second intifada, claiming that the attacks had deterred passengers from taking buses. On February 3, 2003, the Tel Aviv District Court ruled that Palestinian Authority Chairman Arafat has to pay Egged NIS 52 million in damages for the loss of one year's income and NIS 100,000 in court expenses.
Despite deregulation
Deregulation
Deregulation is the removal or simplification of government rules and regulations that constrain the operation of market forces.Deregulation is the removal or simplification of government rules and regulations that constrain the operation of market forces.Deregulation is the removal or...
attempts by Benjamin Netanyahu
Benjamin Netanyahu
Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu is the current Prime Minister of Israel. He serves also as the Chairman of the Likud Party, as a Knesset member, as the Health Minister of Israel, as the Pensioner Affairs Minister of Israel and as the Economic Strategy Minister of Israel.Netanyahu is the first and, to...
, Egged is still Israel's largest bus company, is subsidized by the government, and still controls most of the inter-city bus lines in Israel. Netanyahu's attempts were cut short by a bus strike that brought the country to a halt, and Egged's workers and directors don't hesitate to declare that any further attempts to undermine the company's monopoly will be met with similar measures. However, in recent years, many bus lines have begun to be operated by smaller bus companies such as Dan
Dan Bus Company
Dan Bus Company is an Israeli bus company based in Tel Aviv. It operates local bus service in the Tel Aviv Metropolitan Area as well as some intercity bus services between the Gush Dan area and nearby regions such as Samaria, and a connection between Bne Brak and Jerusalem. Dan operates 1,200...
, Kavim
Kavim
Kavim is an Israeli bus company. It was founded in 2000 and provided lines in the eastern Gush Dan region - the towns/cities Kiryat Ono, Petah Tikva, Or Yehuda, Giv'atayim and others. In February 2005, Kavim expanded to the north, where it started providing bus lines in Afula, Bet She'an and the...
, Superbus, Connex
Veolia Transport
Veolia Transport is the international transport services division of the French-based multinational company Veolia Environnement...
and others. In 2005, Egged and the Israeli Government reached an agreement under which by the year 2015 subsidization will be reduced to specific sectors, the disabled, soldiers and students, and for certain equipment.
Bus fleet
Egged's bus fleet include a wide variety of bus models of Mercedes-BenzMercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz is a German manufacturer of automobiles, buses, coaches, and trucks. Mercedes-Benz is a division of its parent company, Daimler AG...
, Volvo
Volvo
AB Volvo is a Swedish builder of commercial vehicles, including trucks, buses and construction equipment. Volvo also supplies marine and industrial drive systems, aerospace components and financial services...
, DAF
VDL Bus International
VDL Bus Chassis is a Netherlands-based bus builder which originated from the bus-building business of DAF.Originally named DAF Bus International after being separated from the truck-building business of DAF, it joined the United Bus in 1990...
and MAN, including bulletproof
Bulletproof
Bulletproofing is the process of making something capable of stopping a bullet or similar high velocity projectiles e.g. shrapnel. The term bullet resistance is often preferred because few, if any, practical materials provide complete protection against all types of bullets, or multiple hits in the...
versions used mostly for travel in the West Bank. Historically, the company also extensively used buses by Leyland
Leyland Motors Ltd
Leyland Motors Limited was a British vehicle manufacturer of lorries, buses and trolleybuses. It gave its name to the British Leyland Motor Corporation formed when it merged with British Motor Holdings, later to become British Leyland after being nationalised...
, Neoplan
Neoplan
NEOPLAN Bus GmbH is a German automotive company that manufactures buses, trolleybuses and coaches. NEOPLAN is now a subsidiary of NEOMAN Bus GmbH, which itself is a part of MAN SE.-Foundations:...
, Jonckheere
Jonckheere
Jonckheere is a motor coach and bus builder, founded in 1881 by Henri Jonckheere in Roeselare, Belgium. Presently, the company is known as VDL Jonckheere.-History:...
, International
Navistar International
Navistar International Corporation is a United States-based holding company that owns the manufacturer of International brand commercial trucks, MaxxForce brand diesel engines, IC Bus school and commercial buses, Workhorse brand chassis for motor homes and step vans, and is a private label...
, Fiat
Fiat
FIAT, an acronym for Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino , is an Italian automobile manufacturer, engine manufacturer, financial, and industrial group based in Turin in the Italian region of Piedmont. Fiat was founded in 1899 by a group of investors including Giovanni Agnelli...
and more.
International ventures
Egged has purchased 51 % of the BulgariaBulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...
n Trans-Triumph bus company, which runs service to cities such as Varna
Varna
Varna is the largest city and seaside resort on the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast and third-largest in Bulgaria after Sofia and Plovdiv, with a population of 334,870 inhabitants according to Census 2011...
and Sofia
Sofia
Sofia is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria and the 12th largest city in the European Union with a population of 1.27 million people. It is located in western Bulgaria, at the foot of Mount Vitosha and approximately at the centre of the Balkan Peninsula.Prehistoric settlements were excavated...
, as well as airport and tour bus
Tour bus
A tour bus service is a bus service that takes visitors sightseeing, with routes around tourist attractions. Double-decker buses and/or open top buses are commonly used, for their good views....
es for approximately 4 million Euro. Egged, through its affiliated company, is responsible for the operation of half the public transportation in the city of Varna, the second largest city in Bulgaria with about half-a-million residents. Egged also formed a joint venture company with Rousse municipality called EGGED ROUSSE JSC which operates the public transport in the town of Rousse
Rousse
Ruse is the fifth-largest city in Bulgaria. Ruse is situated in the northeastern part of the country, on the right bank of the Danube, opposite the Romanian city of Giurgiu, from the capital Sofia and from the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast...
.
Egged operates some 1,400 buses in Poland, where it owns the Polish bus company Mobilis it acquired for 4 million Euro in 2006. The company operates some metropolitan bus routes, including exclusive franchises in Warsaw
Warsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
, Kraków
Kraków
Kraków also Krakow, or Cracow , is the second largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in the Lesser Poland region, the city dates back to the 7th century. Kraków has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Polish academic, cultural, and artistic life...
and Bydgoszcz. The BDS movement
Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions
Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions refers to a campaign first initiated on 9 July 2005 by 171 Palestinian non-governmental organizations in support of the Palestinian cause ".....
has launched a Polish campaign against Egged, claiming that the company “undermines working conditions in Poland and is involved in maintaining a system of settlements [in the Israeli occupied territories] that violate international law”.
Egged Bus Services have also got an eight-year contract with an option for an additional two years worth about 500 million Euro for public transport in the region Waterland
Waterland
Waterland is a municipality in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. It is located north of Amsterdam, on the borders of the IJsselmeer.-Population centres :...
in the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
starting December 2011. The contract drew opposition from local Dutch activist groups who accuse Egged of supporting Israel’s settlements policy in the West Bank
West Bank
The West Bank ) of the Jordan River is the landlocked geographical eastern part of the Palestinian territories located in Western Asia. To the west, north, and south, the West Bank shares borders with the state of Israel. To the east, across the Jordan River, lies the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan...
, and consider the company's winning the tender as indirect Dutch support for Israel’s settlements policy, according to reports by Radio Netherlands Worldwide. Egged’s Dutch subsidiary denies being involved in politics.
“Mehadrin” routes
Until January 2011, Egged also operated gender-segregatedSex segregation
Sex segregation is the separation of people according to their sex.The term gender apartheid also has been applied to segregation of people by gender, implying that it is sexual discrimination...
lines, commonly called “mehadrin” buses, mainly running in and/or between major Haredi
Haredi Judaism
Haredi or Charedi/Chareidi Judaism is the most conservative form of Orthodox Judaism, often referred to as ultra-Orthodox. A follower of Haredi Judaism is called a Haredi ....
population centers. In these sex segregated buses women are expected to sit in the back of the bus and wear so called “modest dress”. The “mehadrin” lines were criticized after a woman, Miriam Shear
Miriam Shear
Miriam Shear is an American-Israeli woman who, on November 24, 2006, on a five-week vacation to Israel, was allegedly attacked and beaten by a group of Haredi Jewish men on her way to pray at the Western Wall while riding a bus in Jerusalem...
, was assaulted for refusing to give up her seat to a male passenger and move to the back of the bus.
In 2011, after a suit filed by a number of women including Shear and novelist Naomi Ragen
Naomi Ragen
Naomi Ragen is an American-Israeli author, playwright and women’s rights activist.Ragen was born in New York City on July 10, 1949 and received an Orthodox Jewish education before completing a degree in literature at Brooklyn College , the same year she moved to Israel with her husband...
, the Israeli High Court ruled that the system as it was implemented was discriminatory. The court, accepting the recommendations of a committee set up to investigate the “mehadrin” buses, ordered that signs designating buses as segregated (even voluntarily) were to be removed and new signs to be put up informing passengers that they had the right to sit wherever they wanted, and stressed that neither passengers nor the driver could pressure anyone into complying with a segregated seating arrangement. Egged, suspected of allegedly violating the Supreme Court ruling, stresses that there is no “mehadrin” concept and that the company “operates only in line with Supreme Court instructions and allows every passenger to select his seat without gender discrimination.”